The Lightkeeper by Dr. Sherry Shenoda

A Review by Perrin Lovett

Edith Hamilton, classicist and author of The Echo of Greece, once said, “Greece’s great men let all their acts turn on the immortality of the soul. We don’t really act as if we believed in the soul’s immortality and that’s why we are where we are today.” I read The Echo seven to ten years after my misspent undergraduate career and my belated studies of Athens and Rome. However, as they spoke to Hamilton, so the ancient philosophers, historians, and poets spoke to me. I strongly suspect they had a similar influence, formal or autodidactic, on the author of The Lightkeeper. In a book about Deuterocanonical Biblical Wisdom, the wisdom of the ancient thinkers is on display at the beginning of many chapters, also being embedded within them in an instructive, narrative fashion. Among other things, it is a book about the immortality of one particular unusual soul.

*Shenoda, Dr. Sherry, The Lightkeeper, Chesterton, Indiana: Ancient Faith Publishing, 2021. 

Dr. Sherry Shenoda, originally from Egypt, is a California pediatrician, wife, mother, and extraordinarily gifted storyteller. Learn more about her at her website. And please purchase a copy of her sublime novel from the Ancient Faith storefront. 

The philosophy of it all: there is a noble degree of Orthodox (Coptic) Christian apologetics behind the plot and message of The Lightkeeper. It is a beautiful and original explication of the very concept of (Lady) Wisdom, exploring the mysteries of that proverbial truism with stirring elocution. Herman Melville once noted that in addition to the tenants of Old Testament Hebrew faith, Wisdom is also laced with an appreciation of Platonism. More recently, Professor Alexander Dugin likewise explained a strain of the Platonic running through Judaic philosophy, as well as in Islamic reasoning, and, of course, the underpinnings of Eastern Christian Orthodoxy. The same strain grounds The Lightkeeper and provides deep impetus for the story, especially as to the protagonist’s journey. 

It is a book riddled with time travel. And it opens and closes with an entertaining, or even breathtaking loop (a Closed Timelike Curve to make Seth Lloyd smile) that provides closure for the characters, the reader(!), and for much of the apophatic trust through and beyond questioning that both hammers home the philosophy of the book and narrates the first two parts of the tome. From the outset, Shenoda’s Lightkeeper wrestles with questions about her identity and her purpose. She even wrestles with Wisdom in the literal sense. But via her righteous perseverance, she is eventually gifted true wisdom of the kind only God may dispense. And the entire storyline is incredible as it teaches, without lecturing, the value of patiently trusting and enduring; the twists and turns and mysteries presented eventually cobble together a compelling rendition of the lessons lived and learned by Solomon and Adam. Again, there is recurrent time travel throughout the tale, which, on its own, curves here and there, seemingly chaotically at first glance, but with an ardent purpose before the end. And the story even ends with a form of “wave collapse”. 

The ending, or rather, the third part through the satisfying conclusion, provides multiple completions both within the story and within the mind of the reader. Per the Biblical sapiential, the protagonist, already immortal, though still suffering doubt and mental anguish, finds true Life Everlasting in addition to the fulfillment of her real intended purpose. “It’s all for me,” she keeps repeating. And it is, though it is not without the influence of the Lady of Wisdom and the permitting glory of He Who is Above. And another he! He who tends the favorite lighthouse. What, really, are we mortals without a love story? And to that end, Shenoda delivers in a rather surprising, though very gratifying, disposition. I do not dare spoil the romance, instead, I advise the reader will find it riveting and rewarding. Of course, that latter description is one I shall apply to the entire work.

If I am not mistaken, The Lightkeeper is Shenoda’s second book and first full novel. One truly hopes for a second, third, fourth, and so on, as the author exhibits a keen ability to provoke thought and emotion with her exceptional literary fiction. The Lightkeeper is a gem for any Christian, any philosophically-minded individual, anyone seeking pleasant complexity, if within a gently read format, or anyone interested in a touch of eccentric fantasy or traditional romance. I applaud Shenoda and highly recommend her book.